Jon Spencer's Ohio State Report Card

Dec. 8, 2013

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Dec 7, 2013; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Michigan State Spartans running back Jeremy Langford (33) rushes into the end zone for a touchdown during the fourth quarter of the 2013 Big 10 Championship game against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports / Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

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OFFENSIVE LINE

At worst, the front five battled the Spartans to a draw in the trenches. Braxton Miller had good protection most of the time and, if anything, waited too long before deciding to run. Pat Elflein started at right guard in place of the disciplined Marcus Hall, who wasn’t really missed. If he had been, we probably would have seen him. The Buckeyes did a good job of negating end Shilique Calhoun, who came in with 7.5 sacks and 13.5 TFLs.

GRADE: B

RUNNING GAME

Braxton Miller was effective running the ball from the get-go but it’s in the second half when Miller and Carlos Hyde got it cranked up in concert. Both went over 100 yards rushing again. But when the Buckeyes absolutely needed one yard on fourth down in the fourth quarter, they had Miller run wide behind Hyde and TE Jeff Heuerman instead of his trusty front five. Huh? The Buckeyes were a combined 1 of 12 on third- and fourth-down conversions. Some of that was MSU’s vaunted defense. Some of it was poor decision-making.

GRADE: B+

PASSING GAME

For someone supposedly dealing with a stress fracture (first revealed Friday), “Philly” Brown was one of the few guys doing anything offensively for the Buckeyes. He made a 20-yard TD catch when the Buckeyes were on the verge of getting blown out and could have had a couple more TDs on better thrown balls from Braxton Miller. A 26-yard strike from Miller to TE Jeff Heuerman helped draw the Buckeyes even closer with a field goal before halftime, but it was another mediocre passing performance by Miller, and Evan Spencer didn’t help with a big third-down drop in the fourth quarter.

GRADE: C-

DEFENSIVE LINE

The Spartans did a nice job of neutralizing OSU’s pass rush with screen passes and roll-outs, but freshman end Joey Bosa still broke through containment several times and almost single-handedly wrecked MSU’s running game in the first half. Unfortunately, save for a pick by C.J. Barnett that led to nothing, no one other than Bosa was making a play on defense and the Spartans ultimately put it away on a 26-yard run by Jeremy Langford. That run put him over 100 yards, the first back to go over the century mark vs. OSU this season.

GRADE: D

LINEBACKERS

Curtis Grant, hobbled by a bad ankle, saw more action than he has in weeks, but didn’t do a lot to make his presence known. Ryan Shazier, the Big Ten tackle leader, was guilty of a stupid pass interference on MSU’s opening drive, resulting in a field goal. The Buckeyes sorely needed a signature game from Shazier and didn’t get it.

GRADE: F

DEFENSIVE BACKS

Corey “Pittsburgh” Brown took a poor angle on 72-yard TD pass to Keith Mumphrey after a pass interference call on Doran Grant helped set up an earlier field goal as MSU jumped out to a 10-0 lead. Brown’s safety sidekick C.J. Barnett also got burned for a 33-yard TD by Tony Lippett. Another Grant interference flag set up a go-ahead TD pass in the fourth quarter at Barnett’s expense again. Losing Bradley Roby late in the third quarter (leg) for a spell didn’t help as yet another QB, this time native Ohioan Connor Cook, had a career game against the Buckeyes, with over 300 yards passing.

GRADE: F

SPECIAL TEAMS

Ryan Shazier wasn’t having a great game at linebacker, but he did deflect what turned out to be a 19-yard punt, setting the Buckeyes up for a possible go-ahead score in the final period. Instead, they wasted it. The almost-forgotten Drew Basil drew the Buckeyes within 17-10 at halftime on a 28-yard field goal, only his second 3-pointer in the last six games. Cameron Johnston was again a master at dropping his punts inside the 20, one getting killed at the 4.

GRADE: A

COACHING

Twenty-four game winning streak: kaput. Fate finally caught up with a lousy defense. Obviously the big question at halftime, after the Buckeyes had whittled a 17-0 deficit (largest in the Urban Meyer Era) to 17-10, was what kind of adjustments they would make defensively at the break. Obviously, not the right ones because the Spartans scored 17 unanswered points after OSU went in front 24-17. Because a win here would have secured a BCS title game berth, this loss, in some ways, hurts more than the one to MSU in 1998 that killed the national championship hopes of clearly the best team in the nation. Saturday’s loss also ruined what would have been the biggest comeback in Meyer’s head coaching career.